Rubio visits Athens for strategic talks, Turkey absent from itinerary

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will arrive in Athens on the evening of October 6 to lead the American delegation at the 6th U.S.-Greece Strategic Dialogue scheduled for October 7. The official State Department itinerary for October 5-8 includes Reykjavik, Athens, and Lisbon, notably omitting a stop in Turkey.

Discussions with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis will center on defense cooperation under the Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement, energy security, and Eastern Mediterranean developments. Washington is simultaneously sending warm messages to the Republic of Cyprus.

Greek outlet Dimokratia reports the U.S. is pressing for direct awards of major defense contracts to American firms, linking the request to Greece's recent deals worth 9.8 billion euros with France and 6.3 billion euros with Israel since 2019. The outlet claims Mitsotakis and Gerapetritis were caught off guard by the concrete U.S. demands.

Accepting the U.S. demand risks domestic backlash weeks after a 3.1 billion euro Israeli air defense deal, while rejecting it could strain ties as NATO evolves and wars in Ukraine and the Middle East continue. Athens faces a difficult choice with heavy political costs either way.